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Fading Beauties

The tale of online cosmetics start-ups is
not a pretty one

Updated July 17, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

When the dot-coms started pouring into the cosmetics industry a couple of years ago, some pundits predicted that the old-line stalwarts such as Estee Lauder Cos. and L'Oreal SA would be overrun by the new competition.

Instead, the dot-coms are being overrun themselves. Unable to match the manufacturing and distribution prowess of the veteran cosmetics marketers, a field that once numbered as many as 200 dot-coms has been winnowed sharply in the past few months. In April, Estee Lauder bought one of the leading dot-com...